The financial analyst who coined a derogatory nickname for president Donald Trump that's gaining traction with Wall Street investors is worried what will happen now that he's aware of it.
Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong has been credited with slapping the "TACO" acronym – "Trump Always Chickens Out" – on the president for his habit of backing down from his harsh tariffs after the markets tank, but he's concerned that dynamic could be disrupted now that a reporter asked him about it at the White House.
"Well, that escalated quickly: regular readers will be familiar with the acronym Taco — Trump Always Chickens Out — which this newsletter coined some weeks ago," Armstrong wrote in Thursday morning's "Unhedged" column. "Yesterday, someone asked the president about it at a White House press conference. He didn’t seem to like it all that much."
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"The problem for Unhedged (other than an increased risk of getting audited this year) is that we like it when Trump chickens out on his tariff threats," the columnist added. "Chickening out from bad policy is good. But now that Trump knows about the Taco trade, is he less likely to chicken out? This was not our plan! At all!"
Armstrong had noted last month the president's tendency to announce punishing duties that send markets into the tank, only to back off a short time later and goose the market, and his nickname for Trump spread around the investment world and then got picked up by various media outlets – and prompted a direct question from CNBC White House correspondent Megan Casella.
“Mr. President, Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the 'TACO' trade, they’re saying ‘Trump always chickens out’ on your tariff threats, and that’s why markets are higher this week," Casella said. "What’s your response to that?”
Trump appeared to be angered by the question and claimed he had been unaware of the nickname.
“Oh, isn’t that nice – chicken out, I’ve never heard that,” Trump said. “You mean, because I reduced China from 145 percent that I set down to 100 [percent] and then down to another number. I said you have to open your whole country, and because I gave the European Union a 50 percent … tariff and they called up and they said, 'Please let’s meet right now,' and I said, ‘I’ll give you until July’ … you call that chickening out?"
“Six months ago, this country was stone-cold dead,” he added. “People didn’t think it would survive, and you ask a nasty question like that. It’s called negotiation … Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.”
